Relational accountability is built by spending time in communities, engaging in traditional activities, and sharing knowledge. Research and knowledge mobilization activities will focus on conversational interviews with polar bear, moose, and caribou harvesters across Nunatsiavut to gain timely and place-based insight into the on-the-ground observations and experiences related to these species and their harvesting. As a longitudinal study, the vision is to collect harvester insights year-over-year into the future to enhance understandings of, robust decision-making for, and the sustainable utilization of polar bears, moose, and caribou for generations to come.
The Hub will be true to the voices of all participants, and some ways of showing it is through oral history archives, audio and video recordings, written documentation, and other forms of media to capture and preserve traditional knowledge in a culturally appropriate manner. These resources will not only serve as “data collection methods” but as valuable educational tools and references for future generations.
The Analyst and the Community-based Researcher will play a crucial role in facilitating relationships with harvesters and community members. The Hub will also continue to build relationships and foster intergenerational learning through knowledge mobilization cooperation with Inuit educators employed by the Torngat Secretariat.
Indigenous knowledge, relationships to the land, traditional foods, cultural identity, and self-determination are critical social determinants of health for Indigenous Peoples in Canada. The vision of this Hub is designed to enhance the well-being of Inuit, specifically in the Nunatsiavut region, where we will use Inuit Knowledge with scientific research to ensure that traditional practices and perspectives are respected and utilized in the management of ancestral lands and wild species. Inuit Knowledge not only encompasses an understanding of the behavior, habitat, migration patterns, and population dynamics of species like polar bears, caribou, and moose, but how people have been living alongside those animals, and their relational, instrumental, and intrinsic values. This braiding approach empowers communities to take an active role in the co-management of traditional harvesting practices, thus advancing species conservation and community well-being.
The Hub recognizes that the well-being of Inuit communities is multifaceted and encompasses social, cultural, and environmental dimensions. Thus, it will continue collaborating in initiatives that prioritize community health, including mental, physical, and spiritual well-being through land-based activities.
The Hub will work toward enhancing cultural continuity through monitoring Inuit knowledge and relationship with the land and wildlife. These relationships and how they are understood by harvesters and communities, will continue to inform co-management processes concerning the traditional harvest practices of species that are vital for nutritional, cultural, and economic well-being of people in Nunatsiavut.
By building trust, relationships, and braiding Inuit Knowledge and perspectives into fish and wildlife co-management, the Hub will work with communities in shaping decision-making related to the traditional harvesting and management of species like polar bears, moose, and caribou.
The Hub will challenge the limitations imposed by colonial structures related to knowledge appropriation, which have historically obstructed the autonomy and well-being of Indigenous communities. The Hub will share all the information gathered through open science practices. Communication materials will be developed to share updates, lessons and impacts of the work conducted in both English and Inuktitut, thus contributing to cultural revitalization. The Hub will also follow the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance – Collective benefit, Authority of control, Responsibility, and Ethics.
